Steady Pace at 'odsock Corner

It always seems to be a bit of a struggle to get back into the swing of things after the summer holidays and this year has been no exception. Things are now slowly moving and the ballasting of 'odsock Corner is now completed. Now you might think that is an easy one-hit job, but it was actually spread over several sessions taking it nice and steady. Unfortunately it's not the easiest thing to get a decent picture of in the evening gloom of the workshop.

I have to admit to being as gloomy as the light in the workshop after taking that photo, suddenly going into negative mode about the whole project. I'd like to say the next day dawned bright and I was refreshed, but the weather had other ideas. So did I...

I hired in a keen sub-contractor to assist with the modelling clay work that could now be completed around the roadway, walls and office building. The walls and building were carefully wrapped as tightly as we could in cling film before placing them in location. The usual PVA base was applied before using DAS 'stone' clay to infill and shape the landscape, finishing off by stippling with a stiff brush to add texture.

 

My assistant had to go out to a friends house leaving me to complete the area in the front of the office, covering the quite poor quality corrugated card in this area. Having used up all the clay that I had taken out of the packet I stopped at this point, as I think that I may have assistance for the next session, where we can continue around the side and back of the building.

After leaving the clay to set for a few hours I carefully removed the walls and office (before the PVA got too stuck the cling film!) and by large the desired effect has been achieved. I did have to poke a few bits back down so maybe I could have left it a little longer before removing the items. We'll see next time! 

Colin

Dereliction and the Light

The workbench is slowly coming back into use after the summer break. Although the majority of 'odsock Corner's scenic needs can be met from the existing pile of pre-painted scenic bits I've accumulated, there are a couple of specific items that I wanted to create.

Firstly there is a semi-derelict wagon, in the form of a surplus Black Dog Mining chassis frame and coupler blocks, with planking from a styrene piece marked up for another project but not actually long enough here, hence the missing and wonky planks! As the wheelsets will be visible through the gaps old Parkside Dundas wheels are used, I find these easy to blacken the axle and weather up accordingly.

The lamp post is a combination of S&D Models parts, picked up cheaply on my last trip to the now-closed Goods Yard at Tuxford. It may not actually be an accurate combination of pillar and lamp but it should look the part. Despite passive provision for lighting in the office building I am not fussed about having a working outdoor lamp as it will always be a daytime scene... 

Colin

 

Back to the Drawing Board

Don't worry, I'm not about to scrap another layout project! 'Back to the Drawing Board' was the theme of the 2024 Friends of the Kirklees Light Railway gala, themed around comics and cartoons.

I arrived at Clayton West station on the Sunday in time for the 11.00 departure, with visiting locomotive 'Muffin' from the Lappa Valley Railway preparing to pilot KLR-based 'Sian'. 'Muffin' was designed by David Curwen and built by Berwyn Engineering in 1967 for Longleat, transferring to the LVR in 1976. Along with 'Dougal' she was briefly associated with Les Anderson's Axe and Lym Valley railway in 1974.

Returning on the same train from Shelley was another double-header of LVR 'Zebedee' and home loco 'Fox', two contrasting red tank locomotives. 'Zebedee' then paired up with 'Muffin' to work a shuttle to Skelmanthorpe so I couldn't resist the opportunity to travel behind the pair of them. 'Zebedee' was built by Severn Lamb to David Curwen's design in 1974, following the same outline as the aforementioned 'Dougal' as an 0-6-2T. In 1991 the cab was extended during an overhaul and she became a 0-6-4T with a very plain looking rear bogie.

There were a few issues getting the brakes set up for the shuttle service and on arrival at Cuckoo's Nest halt it was announced the train would terminate short there. Several passengers, including a contingent from Cleethorpes, jumped over to the passing train back to Clayton West, those who waited were rewarded with a change of plan and a spirited run to Skelmanthorpe after all. The Lappa Valley have a slightly smaller stone arched bridge over their line, also built on a standard gauge trackbed.

Back at Clayton West my next run was a full return trip with a locomotive that needed no further introduction, 'Bonnie Dundee' from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway. In case you are wondering, she was representing the publishers of the several popular comics! For this trip we were honoured with a genuine Scottish driver in the form of John Kerr, who seemed very happy with her performance. Given that the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway were inspired by 'Katie' and 'Sian' during the conversion of 'Bonnie Dundee', even in tank locomotive form, it is no real surprise that she performed so well.

To finish, a view of the 7 1/4" gauge line at Clayton West, where 'Ivor' was visiting from the Pugney's Light Railway. I thought this view was quite modelable, possibly using the station canopy in the form of a half-station and hidden exit to the fiddle yard... 

Colin
 

An Oasis of Calm...*

As you may have guessed from the lack of real updates over the last few weeks, the summer period has far too many distractions to allow any modelling to take place. The latest is some 1:1 gardening/minor civil engineering occupying a fair chunk of the bank holiday weekend. If only I could get the grass to be as efficient as hanging basket liner!

The next task in line should be ballasting 'odsock Hall and I must not put it off too much longer as September will probably provide the ideal conditions in the workshop. In the meantime, here's a delve into the archives to a gloomy morning in Somerthorpe as the locomotives are prepared for the day...

Colin

*not affiliated to any 90's indie-rock group

North Bay - A Poseidon Adventure

A weeks holiday in the Scarborough area inevitably ended up at the North Bay Railway on the Friday morning, after a very pleasant hour or so exploring Peasholme Park for the first time. Being a 'changeover' day at many of the areas holiday parks Friday is the quietest day for the railway with a single train in service. On this occasion 1933 'Poseidon' was on duty in pseudo-British Railways express passenger blue, a far cry from the tatty LNER green I first saw her in at Cleethorpes many years ago.

The area around Peasholme station has benefitted from removal of many of the trees that have grown up over the last 90 years and had in some cases become dangerous. There is space to develop but it is awkwardly located within the locomotive turning loop. As the NBR cannot extend in length all expansion is sideward, adding attractions to increase visitor stay. The latest example of this is a 7 1/4" gauge coin-in-the-slot tram running alongside the main line for about 40m (you can just see the buffer stop at the far end).

At Scalby Mills a new station building is under construction under the canopy occupying space that is under-utilised with the second platform now closed. It is based around a portable building and you may wonder how this got there, I had visions of a giant crane swinging it in... the more mundane answer is that is was brought to site in sections by rail, being loaded from a lorry about halfway along the line to avoid the tunnel. Cladding work is ongoing and it provides a much better space for retail and catering than the previous kiosk by the turntable.

Turning the locomotive at Scalby Mills always draws a crowd but my favourite shot is to wait for the loco to leave the turntable and take a portrait as the driver leaves to reset it to the incoming line. The sky in this shot may look photoshopped but it is the real thing!

After a walk around the rocks under the Scalby Mills pub, we returned to Peasholme for lunch, admiring what may be one of the best views on any miniature or heritage railway...

Colin
 

Saturday Snapshot II - Gateway

Whilst posing the newly completed wall on 'odsock Corner the other day, I decided to pose the railcar in the gateway to see how it would look once the layout made a little more progress.

Drivers will have to be ultra cautious here with restricted clearances and sight lines... it's a good job it will only be crossing a trackway at this point!

Colin

A Weathered Old Wall

I have now completed painting the wall and gates. I had envisaged doing a step-by-step set of photos for this but in reality I didn't get a chance to take the photos as I got carried away and just kept going... I'll do my best to explain the process I adopted for the brickwork but as an artistic process, I may have forgotten some of the stages!

Firstly, the finished result:

In essence, the process involved:

• Grey Primer,
• A wash of black-grey to darken the base colour,
• Mortar colours - sand/beige mixes applied diluted and in different layers to create variety of colour and density over the surface,
• Brick colours - Army Painter 'tanned flesh' and Vallejo 'flat earth' plus some other shades, mixed and applied in a dry-brushed fashion to pick out the brick faces
• Additional colouring to the bricks using pencil crayons
• Washes of brown and black-grey to tone down the colours, the darker colour being applied more heavily in the mortar lines at the base of the wall.

The stages using the brick colours and pencil crayons were repeated a few times as the washes tended to dull the additional colours from the crayons and a few corrections had to be made. Despite sanding down the brick faces prior to painting the mortar lines were still quite deep (and wide) and the pencil crayons actually helped pick out the edges of the bricks in places. The final dry-brush was a light green-grey on the lower brick courses to represent where greenery/grass had stained the brickwork. It rises on the rear of the wall as the landform of the layout rises behind the wall. 

The gates were painted in the same olive brown as the office building with similar weathering. The hinges were masked up and picked out in black-grey on both the gates and the walls. 

In place on the layout there is now some infill between the road and the walls, to raise the land a little and give a slightly deeper slot to site the wall in. Around the rear can be seen the slight correction that I had to make - I had over-estimated the height and extent of the raised landform and created a much too large expanse of darkened brickwork and mortar. I re-dry-brushed the bricks in this area and the effect of the darkened mortar is quite pleasing. There will be a lot of vegetation hiding all this in due course, I probably could have left it as it was...

The capping stones were painted in the same sand/beige colours as the mortar, having carefully masked off the brickwork first. The usual washes of brown and black-grey followed, then dry-brushing with the original colours. Everything was matt varnished to complete, which knocked back any shine from the pencil crayons. 

The picture above shows the various attempts at tree location - the one bottom right is the one that works best, bringing the tree closer to the wall and office but not overhanging too far.

Whilst I hadn't planned to complete these items before doing any more actual scenic work, having them available will allow for progress to now focus on the fun, messy bits...

Colin